Tag: Combat Sports History

On January 5, 1900, four days before a showdown with Bantamweight Boxing Champion Terry McGovern, Featherweight World Boxing Champion George Dixon made an announcement to chill the spine of all his supporters. Dixon announced that win or lose, he would be retiring from the ring after the bout with McGovern. The last thing a manager wants to hear before a

Wrestling promoter Samuel Rachman created the International Wrestling Tournament in Spring 1915 to highlight the abilities of Aleksander “Alex” Aberg. Aberg was the Russian Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion. Rachman believed Aberg could beat any wrestler. Rachman also wanted to lure Frank Gotch, the last undisputed World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion, out of retirement to wrestle with Aberg. Gotch wrestled George Lurich in

This post is an excerpt from the revised book Morrissey vs. Poole: Politics, Prizefighting and the Murder of Bill the Butcher. The hot air laid stagnant in the room as the man in the corner tried to sleep. Giving up on the possibility of sleep, the “Troy Giant” pulled himself into a sitting position on the edge of the bed.

Ernest Roeber was an accomplished Greco-Roman wrestler. William Muldoon, the World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion from 1880 to 1889, wanted Roeber to take over from him as World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. However, the world title would continue to be disputed until George Hackenschmidt won several Greco-Roman Tournaments in Europe during 1901. Yusuf Ismail, the Terrible Turk, was

As the wrestler jumped off the mat, he grabbed the referee by the lapel with his good arm. “Why didn’t you stop it?” As Referee Siler tried to pull free, Duncan Ross’ seconds grabbed him and pulled him away. The man told Ross, “He can’t stop it. You have to submit.” Ross screamed, “I’m out of

On the same day Joe Stetcher wrestled Stanislaus Zbyszko for the recognized version of the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in St. Louis, Ed “Strangler” Lewis challenged “Big” Wayne Munn for his disputed Michigan-Illinois World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. Lewis dropped the title to Munn in February 1925. In April 1925, Zbyszko defeated Munn in a famous double-cross. The match between

This post was formally a podcast broadcast in 2015. In this episode, I discuss what Evan “The Strangler” Lewis’ hold would be called today. Update – All three of my kids have milestone birthdays this year. Caitlin is 21, Kenneth will be 18 and Caleb will be 16. The old man is a proud papa of all

At the beginning of 1911, the wrestling public considered three men to be the greatest challenge to reigning World Champion Frank Gotch. Former champion George Hackenschmidt, Stanislaus Zbyszko and “The Terrible Turk” Yussif Mahmout wanted the chance to beat Gotch. Gotch, who was nobody’s fool, decided to take some of the starch out of his challengers

On December 13, 1920, Ed “Strangler” Lewis defeated Joe Stetcher for his World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. Professional wrestling was a staged exhibition by 1920. However, such was the strong feelings between the men that the match may have been a “shoot” or legitimate match in which Lewis took the belt. Whether the outcome of the match

John Camel Heenan was known to 19th Century bare knuckle prizefighting fans as “the Benicia Boy”. Despite an 0-1-1 record as a professional fighter, Heenan claimed the World Prizefighting Championship based on a draw with Tom Sayer in an 1860 English prize-fight. Heenan’s first professional fight had been with the reigning World Heavyweight Prizefighting Champion John